3 dead, 20 wounded, in London terror attack

A deadly terror attack in London took place exactly a year to the day after mass-casualty Islamic suicide bombings in Belgium.

Three people were killed and at least 20 were wounded, some critically, in what was confirmed as a terror attack in London on Wednesday afternoon.

The attack occurred outside the UK Parliament, where two assailants stabbed a police officer before being shot. At the nearby Westminster bridge, meanwhile, a car rammed into 12 people before crashing into the gates outside Portcullis House.

All parliament sessions were suspended.

“We were called at approx 2:40 pm to reports of an incident at Westminster Bridge. Being treated as a firearms incident – police on scene,” the London’s Metropolitan police said on Twitter.

Buckingham Palace gates were closed as a precaution.

The New York Police Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau was “monitoring” the situation in London.

The attack occurred exactly a year to the day after the mass-casualty Islamic terror attacks in Brussels, when twin Zaventem airport and Maelbeek train station.

‘Israel Stands as one with the British People’

“Israel expresses its deep shock at the terror attack in London today and its solidarity with the victims and with the people and government of Great Britain. Terror is terror wherever it occurs and we will fight it relentlessly,” Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely stated.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, said: “Israel stands as one with the British people as we all work together to defeat the scourge of terrorism. We send our condolences and wish a speedy recovery to all those injured.”

“The American people send their thoughts and prayers to the people of the United Kingdom. We condemn these horrific acts of violence, and whether they were carried out by troubled individuals or by terrorists, the victims know no difference,” he said.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. was ready to assist in any way.

Russia Urges Global Cooperation in Fighting Terrorism

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has expressed sympathy to those injured and condolences to the relatives of those who died in the incident at Britain’s parliament, and has underlined the need for global cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

“We don’t split terrorism into categories; we consider it as absolute evil. At this moment, as always, our hearts are together with the British people, we feel their pain and speak again about the need to confront that evil,” she said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a statement Wednesday that she learned “with sorrow” of Wednesday’s incident and her thoughts were “with our British friends and all of the people of London,” in particular those who were injured.

While the circumstances of the attack were still unclear, “I want to say for Germany and its citizens: we stand firmly and resolutely by Great Britain’s side in the fight against all forms of terrorism,” she said.

French Students Among Victims

Several French students were among the victims.

“We are all concerned with terrorism,” French President Francois Hollande told reporters Wednesday during a visit in Villepinte, outside Paris. “France, which has been struck so hard lately, knows what the British people are suffering today.”

Hollande added that countries “must bring all the conditions to answer these attacks” and that “it is clear that it is at the European level, and even beyond that, that we must organize ourselves.”

French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said “it is a high place of democracy that has been attacked” and that France is “obviously ready to help.”